Russia is pointing the finger at Ukraine over a drone strike it says struck a bus carrying Belarusian children, but Ukraine is calling the accusation completely false.
The acting governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, which shares a border with Ukraine, identified as Yegor Kovalchuk, said the bus had been transporting a youth soccer team on a holiday trip from Belarus to southern Russia. According to Russia’s Foreign Ministry, one woman traveling with the children lost her life, and eight others were hurt — among them six children. The ministry described the incident as “another monstrous crime.”
Ukraine’s military General Staff pushed back firmly, stating on Telegram that “during the specified period, the Defence Forces of Ukraine did not employ unmanned aerial vehicles against targets in Bryansk Oblast.”
Reuters was not able to verify the claims independently. It should be noted that both countries deny deliberately targeting civilians.
Kovalchuk shared photos online depicting a silver bus with shattered windows, a damaged front tire on the right side, and what appeared to be bloodstains on some of the interior seats.
Russian investigators launched a terrorism probe into the incident. Authorities said the bus had been traveling from Gomel in Belarus to Gelendzhik in Russia and had 44 people on board, including 28 children.
This is not the first such accusation this month. Russia also blamed Ukraine earlier in June for a separate drone attack on a bus in a Russian-controlled area of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, claiming that strike killed eight civilians and injured 11 more.
Russia has carried out repeated strikes on Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022. In recent months, Ukraine has ramped up its own drone campaign targeting Russian territory, aiming to strain Moscow’s economy and push for an end to a war that has claimed thousands of Ukrainian civilian lives.
